Uncommon Sense

Cuban political prisoner on hunger strike

Iván Hernández Carrillo

Cuban political Iván Hernández Carrillo on Monday, Oct. 26, started a hunger strike after guards at the Guamajal prison confiscated a copy of a book written by a fellow political prisoner, Antonio Ramón Díaz Sánchez, according to a report posted at Payo Libre.

Guards had taken the book from Asunción Carrillo, who had gone to the prison on Monday to visit her son.

"My son refused to accept the food and the other books they let pass, and declared that he was abstaining from solid foods," Carrillo said.

Two weeks later, Darsi Ferrer still on hunger strike

Darsi Ferrer

Cuban human rights activist Darsi Ferrer, imprisoned since July 21, is two weeks into a hunger strike he started to protest the unjust way the dictatorship is handling his case. Ferrer, a physician, human rights activist and journalist, started his protest Oct. 13, and as of Oct. 23, it was continuing, according to a report from independent journalist Jaime Leygonier.

Ferrer is being held at the Valle Grande prison in a unit also holding inmates with AIDS/HIV and tuberculosis. Guards also have subjected Ferrer to numerous beatings, according to the report, which is based on a statement given by Ferrer's wife.

Cuban political prisoner describes horrible prison conditions

The food is atrocious.

The medical care is horrible.
The guards are cruel, especially to those prisoners on hunger strikes.

That about sums up political prisoner Angel Moya Acosta's description of conditions in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana.

Listen to his account, in his own words and in his own voice, here.

Moya, a human rights activist, has been imprisoned since the "black spring" of 2003, when he was sentenced to 20 years in prison because of continued anti-dictatorship activism. Clearly, though, he has not given up the fight.

Read my Political Prisoner of the Week profile of Moya, here.

Cubans don't have religious freedom

Freedom is illegal in Cuba.

And as a new U.S. Department report illustrates, that includes freedom of religion:

The Constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess and practice any religious belief within the framework of respect for the law; however, in law and in practice, the Government places restrictions on freedom of religion.

The Government continued to exert control over all aspects of social life, including religious expression. The Government harassed some members of religious organizations that were not officially recognized. Although government harassment of religious organizations continued during the reporting period, reports of harassment declined slightly. Various religious groups reported fewer restrictions on politically sensitive expression, the ability to hold religious activities even for organizations without official recognition, increased capacity to conduct charitable and community service projects, fewer import and travel restrictions, permission to repair buildings, and significant increases in membership. The Government continued to maintain strict controls on the construction of new buildings for religious purposes, and permission was difficult to obtain. Religious groups complained about widespread surveillance and infiltration of their membership by state security agents.

Read the whole thing, here.

Another unacceptable award for Yoani (UPDATED)

Editor's note: Originally published Oct. 24, 2009.

Yoani Sanchez

Four of the five Pan American Development Foundation's Heroes of the Hemisphere will be present in Miami today for a big party in their honor, as they are recognized for how they have "truly changed lives."

The fifth Hero, blogger Yoani Sanchez, will be stuck back in Cuba. Not a surprise considering how the Castro dictatorship doesn't consider her fit for travel, especially if she intends to accept yet another award from her ever-growing international audience.

This is what the PADF had to say about this incredibly brave woman:

Writing a blog may seem common today – unless you live in Cuba. Freedom of expression is limited. Internet access is prohibitively expensive and the island’s servers are controlled by the government.

Those barriers did not stop Yoani Sánchez, a 33-year-old Cuban who writes an independent blog called Generación Y (http://desdecuba.com/generaciony/). During the past two years, the self-taught blogger has found ways to circumvent the system to successfully chronicle everyday life in Cuba. Her writing is described as brilliant and honest. The Cuban government disagrees, however, and has blocked her blog on the island. Once her blog is published, she cannot see her words online.

Notwithstanding, Ms. Sánchez continues to file her observations to Generación Y almost every day, thanks to a network of international volunteers, friends and supporters.

Congratulations to Yoani for this richly deserved award.

She may not be in Miami today, but remember, you still have a way to honor her.

UPDATED, Oct. 26, 2009 — Another Cuban hero, Gorki Aguila, picked up the award for Yoani.

I will give up my dream of being a movie star ...

... if Sean Penn quits pretending to be a journalist.

I can only imagine the comemierda will be flying if he lands this interview.

Drawing depicts ex-prisoner's torture

Before you begin to think about defending the Castro dictatorship or extolling its "virtues," watch this interview with former prisoner as he describes how he was tortured. Even if you don't understand Spanish, the drawings included will give you a picture of what he is describing and what he suffered. This is a story that can be told by too many Cubans too many times.

Huber Matos: Speaking truth to power

I wanted to draw your attention to human right activist John Suarez's blog, where he has posted a great piece about former Cuban revolution commandante Huber Matos and how he spoke truth to power in the form of Fidel Castro, and what it cost him.

A valuable lesson for all.

Normando Hernández González, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 10/25/09 (UPDATED)

Normando Hernández González

UPDATED, July 14, 2010 — Normando Hernández was released from prison in July 2010, under a deal between Spain, the Catholic Church and the Castro dictatorship.

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Last week, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in a cell somewhere in the Castro gulag, Cuban political prisoner Normando Hernández González marked his 40th birthday. It was seventh birthday that Hernández, an independent journalist sentenced to 25 years in prison during the "black spring" of 2003, had spent behind bars.

If I could, my gift to my fellow journalist and to my fellow Cuban would be his liberation from Castro's dungeons. The next best thing, I guess, is to use this space to again inform the world about this hero of Cuban liberty, and to again implore the international community to demand his immediate release, and that of other Cuban political prisoners.

One of the best online profiles of Hernández is maintained by the PEN American Center:

Normando Hernández’s health situation is grim. In December of 2006, he was rushed in critical condition to the Amalia Simoni Provincial Hospital in Camagüey after suffering from fainting spells. During his hospital stay, he experienced nausea, diarrhea, fainting spells, fatigue and fever. Nonetheless, he was kept in a room without a bed, table or chair for an entire week. His food was thrown under the door on a tray and he spent all day sitting on a bucket.

On December 27, State Security soldiers removed Hernández from the Amalia Simoni Provincial Hospital and took him back to Kilo 7 prison. Doctors claimed that the hospital was lacking in the resources needed to treat Hernández’s delicate condition.

Back at Kilo 7 prison, Normando Hernández’s health deteriorated further due to a chronic gastro-intestinal disorder, which causes constant diarrhea, headaches and intermittent fever. Furthermore, he suffers from poor gastro-intestinal absorption and has lost at least 35 pounds.

In April 2007, at the urging of Hernández’s mother, Costa Rican legislators granted Hernández a humanitarian visa. In June, Cuban officials refused to honor the visa. On September 10, 2007, Costa Rican legislator Jose Manuel Echandi Meza presented a formal complaint to the UN about Cuba's denial of an exit permit to Normando Hernández González. The Costa Ricans say Cuba is violating Normando's "right to health and freedom."

On September 14, 2007, Hernández was moved from Kilo 7 Prison in Camagüey to the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital in Havana. Since being admitted, he has been diagnosed with several diseases of the digestive system, including lesions in his stomach and tumors in his gallbladder. Hernández had been diagnosed with tuberculosis in early 2007, but it is unclear whether he received treatment for this or not.

On May 7, 2008, Hernández was removed from a hospital where he was receiving essential medical treatments and returned to Kilo 7 Prison in Camagüey, Cuba.

On January 8, 2009, Hernández was transferred to a Havana prison hospital after developing an abnormal growth on his Adam’s apple. After spending six weeks in the hospital, Hernández was returned to Kilo 7. In a phone interview, Hernández’s wife confirmed that his stay in the hospital left him even sicker than when he arrived. He reportedly received little to no actual treatment during the six weeks and lost five pounds, bringing his total weight to 114 lbs. He is reportedly now being held in complete isolation in life-threatening conditions.

It is not normal for a 40-year-old man to suffer the health problems experienced by Hernández. For that, there is no one to blame but the dictatorship that unjustly imprisons him and thousands of other opponents.

Read my original profile of Hernández, here.

Meet Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo

Claudia Cadelo

One of Cuban blogging pioneer Yoani Sanchez's great accomplishments is how she has inspired other Cubans to get online and express themselves in a similar fashion. Most of us can only imagine how liberating it is to break the blockade the Castro dictatorship has imposed on the Cuban people, and express yourself so openly and honestly.

My favorite of this second generation of Cuban bloggers, if you will, is Claudia Cadelo, of Octavo Cerca. In a short time, her unique voice and perspective on her life in Cuba, and the challenges facing her country, has become a must-read for anyone seeking to understand what is really happening on the island today. Her writing is raw and natural and straightforward. Read her words, and you will have no doubt about her heart and her soul.

Claudia recently won an island-based award as the best blogger in Cuba, but it is wrong to think of Cuban bloggers as being in some sort of competition or rivalry. They each have their perspective, and their unique way of expressing it. As blogging becomes more familiar to more of Cubans, I expect the explosion of ideas and freedom to only grow.

You can read Claudia in English. Here is one of her more recent posts:

The subject of Cuba makes people prickly and leads to heated arguments where you don’t even know what you said or what the other person replied. I had an historic one recently where one of my best friends ended up shouting “Communist!” What provoked him of course was the laughter of those present, and in my case a bit of sadness, about the absurdity of the current situation. In the end we came to agreement on most points and on any mystery we didn’t manage to understand.

So, people walk around here – and I include myself in this – wearing their emotions on their sleeves, with uncontrollable pain and zero rationality. A debate among friends is entertaining but when you look out the window you see that the level of confusion is sky-high.

The disinformation and abuse of polarized political subjects in the press and on television has led to miscommunication in personal relationships; parents who don’t talk with their children, “politics” as a taboo subject at the family table, the disguised discontent of daily life.

We have a government so paternal that in order to control our movements and our freedom of expression it has even reached inside our feelings, to prevent our dialogs, to use civil confusion as a weapon, with the sole objective of maintaining its power